A Token Of Appreciation
by iheartgod175
Summary: Zeeter was certain that Bula didn't feel the same way about her, and that he was interested in Bonnie, the newest member of the team. A small gift quickly changed all that. Bula/Zeeter, and contains small mentions of one-sided Bula/OC.


**A/N:** Before I start, I just want to give thanks to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave me the idea for this story and is the reason I am still alive today. I thank You, Father, for every single idea that you have given me and I swear that I will use this talent to glorify Your name! In Jesus' name, Amen!

Hey folks! It's iheartgod175, and I'm here to post up a quick one-shot that I thought you might like. It's for one of my favorite shows, _The Zula Patrol_. I know that there may be some of you are looking for the tenth chapter of _The Zula Patrol: Dreamscape Crusade_ , but I won't be working on that until much later. I just wanted to leave a quick ZP one-shot here.

Remember how I said on my profile that Multo/Zeeter was my main ship for this show? Well, you may also remember me saying that I ship Bula/Zeeter as well. I mostly keep them as friends, but they're close enough for their relationship to be upgraded. And yeah, I have Zeeter with the crush on Bula here. It's been in my personal headcanon for years.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

 **Story Title:** A Token Of Appreciation

 **Rating: K**

 **Genre/Tags:** Romance

 **Summary:** _Zeeter was certain that Bula didn't feel the same way about her. She was certain that he was interested in the newest member of the team, Bonnie. It took a small gift to change that. Bula/Zeeter._

 **Disclaimer:** I own nothing of the Zula Patrol or any of its characters, aside from my OC, Bonnie. As _Dreamscape Crusade_ shows, that's probably a good thing.

* * *

 **A Token Of Appreciation**

The sunlight that streamed in from Zeeter's window cast a bright glare on the glass picture the pilot was currently holding. Sighing, she tilted the photo towards here in order to get a clearer view of the picture without the glare.

The photo was from their latest trip to the beach, when Bonnie had joined the team. She, Multo, Bula and Bonnie stood behind a large sand car that Gorga, Wizzy and Wigg had made. Bonnie and Multo were sitting on the sand with Wizzy, Wigg and Gorga, who was doing his best impression of a surfer. She and Bula were standing behind Multo and Bonnie, arms around each other best buddy style.

Her eyes kept wandering back to Bula's face in that picture, and she couldn't help but notice that he looked dreamy eyed in that picture. She used to think that his half-lidded, somewhat sleepy gaze was mostly because of his laidback nature, but after the way he'd been acting today, she wasn't so sure. He'd lavished her with a gourmet breakfast this morning, and Multo and the others mysteriously had other things to do outside of the base. Were it not for her current pondering on her own feelings towards Bula, she would have sworn something was up.

While she was flattered by Bula's attentions, she had to wonder what could have brought this on. Most people who heard of something like this would consider him to be more than just a friend.

Ah, there was the crux of her problem. Did she really see him as "just a friend"? Or did she dare hope that he could possibly return her feelings?

She shook her head. That hope had been dashed away ever since Bonnie had come to join the team. Ever since she had come to join the team, Bula's eyes had never left her. Zeeter had to admit, she was slightly jealous of the other Zulean's curvier physique and her coy behavior.

Then again, it seemed to her that Bula wasn't very interested in Bonnie. Whenever he was around her, he was always trying to keep their relationship on a very professional plane. He was her captain, she was his teammate; to him, that was as far as it went. It probably wasn't easy for him, since Bonnie made no secret that she wanted to be more than just his teammate.

His behavior towards Zeeter, on the other hand, was almost the polar opposite. He was much more confident around her, and more than once, she could have sworn that he was flirting with her on occasions. He also tended to treat her nicer than usual. That wasn't to say that he never treated nicely. A more appropriate description would be that he treated her like a lady. Sometimes, she wondered if it was because of his upper class upbringing, or that he was a ladies' man.

That last one wouldn't be too hard to believe. Bula tended to draw women to him like a magnet due to his jovial, curious and cool-headed personality. Add in his dashing good looks and his adorably awkward mannerisms, and one could understand why even the Princess of Zula was trying to stake a claim in him.

That brought another question—was she trying to stake a claim in Bula, too?

She and Bula had been friends ever since middle school; she was actually quite surprised that he genuinely wanted to be friends with her, as everyone knew that she had grown up on what was considered to be "the wrong side of the tracks". She'd looked at him as a good friend at first, even as an older brother figure at times. Over the years, especially after she hit puberty, she realized that she was attracted to him. She didn't act on her feelings then, as Bula had a girlfriend back then and she didn't want to complicate their friendship. So she had buried her feelings for a long time, with them mostly resurfacing when Bonnie appeared.

She'd long since figured that he'd never see her in the same way, but now with Bonnie trying to make her move, the thought of not being able to tell him about her feelings was starting to become a reality. It was a reality that terrified her. She knew that she had to act, and fast, or else she would suffer devastating heartbreak that she would probably never heal from.

Panic overcame her then, filling her mind with all sorts of worst-case scenarios. What if he rejected her? What if he really did like Bonnie, and what she assumed to be him avoiding her was just a fragment of her imagination? Would their friendship be shattered if she told him this?

The bedroom doors hissing open brought her panicked thoughts to a screeching halt. She didn't need to turn around to know who it was, as he was the only other person in the base.

"Zeeter," Bula said, his tone slightly nervous, "do you have a moment?"

She turned to face her captain and friend, and noticed that he looked slightly red-faced, pulling lightly at his hair. It was a small habit he did when he was nervous. His right arm was behind his back as he walked into the room.

"Uh, sure, Bula. You can come in." Zeeter placed the picture on her nightstand and turned to face him. "What brings you in here?"

He walked closer until he reached her bed, and pulled out his right arm. In his hand was a yellow and red Zulean rose, and judging from the beads of water on it, she knew it had to be freshly cut. She looked up at Bula, who seemed to be almost as red as his hair.

"Thanks, Bula," she said, accepting the flower. "What's the occasion?"

"There isn't one. I, uh, wanted to give you something. It's more like a token of my appreciation for you," he said.

"A token of appreciation? For me?" she asked.

"Y-Yeah…" Inwardly, Bula wished he could kick himself right about then. Here he was, making himself look like an utter dork in front of his best friend. He wished he had some of that easygoing charm he'd had in high school, because he could really use it now.

"Aw, shucks…I didn't realize you cared for me that much, Bula," she replied.

"I do, Zeeter. I actually care about you a lot more than you think," he said. "I've been thinking about you nonstop every day for the last few years. And…well, I don't know. I-I'm not really that good at saying things like this…"

Zeeter felt her cheeks color. "Y-You've been thinking about me for three whole years?"

"Well, I didn't tell you how I felt, because Multo had told me that he was going to tell you how _he_ felt. I heard that you turned him down," he said.

"Yeah. I didn't want to, but I just wasn't interested in him," Zeeter answered. She remembered very well how Multo, in his usual oddball fashion, had professed his love for her by baking a batch of fudge and squid brownies proclaiming it in slug frosting. Obviously, he'd heard from Bula that the quickest way to win her over was through her stomach.

One didn't need to be a genius to tell how that went.

"What about Bonnie?" Zeeter didn't want to bring her into the conversation, but if they were going to clear the air about their unresolved feelings...

Bula blinked. "I do like Bonnie, Zeeter," he said.

Zeeter thought her heart would drop in despair. "Oh," she replied, not bothering to hide her disappointment.

"But as attractive as she is, I realized that I don't feel the same way about her," he said. "I'm willing to be just friends, but...I happen to like you a lot more than her."

Zeeter stared at him, half of her wanting to leap up and hug him, and the other half wanting to slug him for almost misleading her. She was happy to learn, though, that he really did have feelings for her and that he wasn't stringing her along as she thought he was.

"So...are we going to keep dancing around the subject, or..." Bula trailed off, not sure of what else to really say.

"No." Zeeter stood up from her spot on the bed and walked over to him. Someone had to make the first move, and it obviously wasn't going to be him this time. " _Spinning in the Rain_ 's playing on Saturday at 7. You wanna go after we grab dinner?"

Bula blinked, surprised at how Zeeter had managed to take control of the situation. Normally, _he_ would be asking her out to dinner and a movie. In all honesty, though, he shouldn't have been surprised, since she was prone to doing that. Zeeter was the girl who liked to take charge and run headlong into danger, all caution thrown to the wind.

And that dominance and adventurous spirit was why he loved her in the first place.

He chuckled. "Sure," he replied. "I'd like that a lot, actually."

Neither of them noticed three eyes watching them from around the corner. Multo smirked to himself as he watched the pilot and her captain continue their conversation. Even from his position on the side, he could see a light pink dusting Zeeter's cheeks.

His plan had worked perfectly.

 **The End**

* * *

 **Huh. This turned out to be shorter than I thought. Well, most of my one-shots for this fandom are short, anyway...**

 **Either way, I hope you enjoyed! Reviews are awesome!**

 **God bless, iheartgod175**


End file.
